The present invention relates to an abrasion resistant earth working surface useful for various earth working implements or tools including, but not limited to, dozer blades, evacuation and backhoe buckets, grinders and the like, subject to abrasion and an open ended hollow abrasion resistant weld stud.
There are numerous earth working implements and tools having a metal surface subject to abrasive wear from sand, rocks and the like. As used herein, the term xe2x80x9cearth workingxe2x80x9d includes an implement or tool having metal surfaces subject to abrasion, including buckets, blades, grinders, etc. used in the construction, road building and mining industries, for example. Various methods have been utilized to renew such surfaces subject to abrasion including for example arc welding a consumable electrode onto the worn metal surfaces, thermal or plasma spraying a metal surface over the worn surface and the like. Wear strips have also been utilized which may be secured by weld studs or welded onto the metal surfaces subject to wear such as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,129,952.
The prior art has also proposed various methods of reducing wear or abrasion of metal earth working surfaces including welding an array of cast abrasion resistant studs onto the metal surfaces such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,547,985. However, such cast abrasion resistant studs are similarly subject to abrasive wear or breakage during use.
The need therefore remains for an improved abrasion resistant earth working surface and weld stud which effectively shields the surfaces of an earth working tool or implement during use.
The abrasion resistant metal earth working surface of this invention includes a plurality of spaced hollow open ended abrasion resistant studs welded to the earth working surface which collect particulate material in the hollow open end of the abrasion resistant studs, forming an abrasion resistant barrier over the studs and the metal earth working surfaces. In the preferred embodiment, the abrasion resistant studs have a length measured from the earth working surface less than about one inch, limiting breakage of the studs and the studs are closely spaced on the earth working surface a distance which promotes collection of particulate material between the studs, thereby providing an abrasion barrier of particulate material covering the earth working surface. As set forth above, the metal earth working surface may be any implement or tool having a metal surface subject to abrasion from earth, sand, rocks and the like, including but not limited to buckets, blades, grinders, etc. used for example by the construction, road building and mining industries, but is not limited to such applications. The drawings illustrate, as an example only, an excavator bucket having a plurality of closely spaced hollow open ended abrasion resistant studs welded to the metal surfaces of the excavator bucket which collect particulate material including earth, sand, small rocks, dirt and other particulate material forming an abrasion barrier of the particulate material limiting wear of both the earth working surfaces and the abrasion resistant hollow studs.
In one preferred embodiment of the abrasion resistant metal earth working surface of this invention, the abrasion resistant studs are spaced on the metal earth working surface a distance 1.5 and six times the diameter of the abrasion resistant studs, such that the particulate material also collects on the metal earth working surface between the studs forming a protective abrasion resistant layer of particulate material protecting the previously exposed metal earth working surface or surfaces. In the disclosed embodiment, the abrasion resistant studs each have a diameter of about one inch or less and the internal diameter of the opening through the hollow open end is equal to one-third the external diameter of the studs or greater or preferably about one-half the external diameter of the studs. In one preferred embodiment, the body portion of the studs includes a cylindrical body portion having a cylindrical opening through the distal end and a generally flat proximal end having a projecting preferably conical flux tip formed of aluminum or other suitable flux. That is, the abrasion resistant weld studs are cup-shaped to collect particulate material following welding to the metal earth working surface.
In one preferred embodiment, the abrasion resistant studs have a diameter of about one inch or less and the inside diameter of the cylindrical opening is at least one-third the diameter of the body portion or preferably at least one-half or greater than the external diameter of the body portion. Thus, the studs are preferably spaced on the metal earth working surface a distance between centers of less than about twice the diameter of the abrasion resistant studs assuring collection of the particulate material between the studs forming a protective abrasion resistant barrier of the metal earth working surface and the cup-shaped studs. As set forth below, the abrasion resistant studs of this invention may be formed of various material including ferrous and non-ferrous alloys.